Belting



WILLIAM M, oAvANAUGmorNEw XORK, 1v. Y,

BELTING.

- Application filed December 8, 1 9 23. JSerial No. 679,284.

-My invention relatesyto an improvement in belt1ng-leather beltinginparticular, al

though, as a matter of fact,.material other than leather may beemployed, if desired.

As is well known, leather ,beltingl as at.

present constructed has certain inherent characteristics which areparticularly desirable in the transmission of power, and

these characteristics I desire to retain. On

the other hand, this type of belting is ex-' tremely expensive, owing tothe fact that nothing but the very best grade of leather can be usedwith any degree of satisfaction;

in fact, it is Well known among manufacturers'of leather belting thatthe leather for this particular purpose must be taken. from thecenter'of the hide. Leather from other parts of the hide cannot be usedpractically owing to the factthat it is not of uniform thickness and inaddition stretches greatly and unevenly when inuse, making itcommercially impracticable for leather belting purposes. 1

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a belting structurewhich is practically nonstretchable, but which posesses the flexibility,durability, and tractive properties of leather belting as nowconstructed.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a structure whereinI can make use of scrap leather, if desired, thereby materi allyreducing the cost of manufacture.

Broadly, my invention consists in providing a belt of leather or othersuitable material-I may use fiber, for example, or very heavy canvasduckin which I employ a vertebrate or articulated structure whlch' im:

parts the desired flexibility, both lateral and longitudinal, to thestructure, this articu lated structure being so arranged as to takepractically all of the longitudinal strain on the belt as well, and ofsuch a character that stretching of the belting is prevented; Thisvertebrate construction enables me to make. useof leather of a gradewhich is not feasible under present practice, without, however,sacrificing the desirable or inherent characteristics of leather beltingas new constructed.

While the vertebrate structure may be said.

to constitute a completestructure in itself, I prefer, for tractivepurposes, to face the same with thin leather strips.

In the accompanying drawings ,1 have illustrated several embodiments ofmy invention, inasmuch as the inventionmay take a varietyof forms. J

Referring to the'drawings l f Figure; 1 is substantially a plan view ofan embodiment of the invention; and I f 0 Fig. 2 is a'section taken onthe line 2- 2- of Fig.1.. '3 '7 -f Referring to the drawings in'detai1,2'des- I ignates a plurality of transverse flexible members,which may be o'f'leather, for ex- 5 ample, these memberswhich will beherein- 1 after referred to'as vertebr'aebeing permanently attached toeach other by connecting members 3 of metal, these connecting memhersextendinglongitudinally of thebelting ceiving a pin or pintle 5-ab0ut-which the" y 1 sections of the articulated structure are adaptedto pivot. These pins or pintl'es may be of metal, raw hide, orothersuitable material. The bent-over ends of the connecting i vmembers 3 arebentv up slightly out of the Elaneof the connecting members and emeddedvinto the face of the vertebrae 2 to thereby hold the members in place.The vertebrae 2, connecting members 8, and pins or pivots5 constitute avertebrate structure.

, Inasmuch as the connecting members 3, if of metal, possess very littletractive'propen ties, I prefer to face oneside of this structure withthin leatherstrips 6 extending longitudinally of the belt, a pluralityof strips instead of one wide strip'being employed, so v as not todestroy the lateral resiliency or yield of the belt which is inherent inmy im-v proved structure and desirable in most in- 100,v

stances, particularly when. used on cone pul- 'leys. If des1red,'asimilar facing can be applied to the other face of the belting as well,

,such a construction being desirable when the belting is to be used as atwisted belt.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided a belt orbelting comprising an articulated or vertebrate structure "in which thevertebrae are composed of short strips of leather extending transverselyof .110

the belting and attached to each other by metal connecting members toimpart the desired lateral resiliency or yield to the beltingsstructureas a whole, the bent or yield necessary to enable the beltingto be.passed about a pulley being provided by a hinge connection between theindividual vertebrae;

It Will be apparent also from the toregoing that scrap leather may beemployed for the vertebra 2, if desired, as the longi- }virtually no:stretch" the ve'rtebrm 2 and henceit isimma'terial hether the members '2stretch or not or \vhether they'strtath'unevenly or not.

The tact that I may use scrap leather isvot' decided advantage overleather belting asinowu nade wherein, as

j mg.

' istics are concerned.

of manufacture.

above pointed out, the best grade of leather must be employed to avoidunequal stretch- L It will be seenal'so that my in'lproved structureretains the desirable characteristics of leather beltin as nowconstructed so far as its tractiveand other desirable character- 1 Itwill be further apparent that I have provided an articulate orvertebrate structure for the purpose of imparting the de siredflexibility tothe structure as'a'whole, this construction also enablingme to employ agrade of leather Which, for one reason or another, hasheretofore not'been cmployed, thereby materially reducing the cost Byemploying leather tor the vertebrate structure the'belting can yieldboth in'a direction to enable-the same to'be carried" about a pulley andalso laterally. The fact that the leather en iployed may beofuneven"thickness or may possess different stretching characteristics.is immaterial in my improved structures inasmuch as the longitudinalstress onthe belting istaken up by the-'metal connectingmembers which Ihave employed throughout.

'7 'VVhile I have specifically referred to leather as particularlydesirable for use in connection With my improved belting, it 1s to'beunderstood that, as pointed out above, other materials may besubstituted it desired,materials like fiber, for example, or a veryheavy grade of canvas.

It is obvious also that the details of con- .struction may be variedfrom that above described Withinthe purview of my invention, and hence Idesire not to be limited to the exact details illustrated exceptby theappended claims.

WVhat I claim is p I 1. Belting comprising leathervertebrae -ea'ch ofwhich is of alength equalto' the Width otthe beltingandcXtondingtransversely of the belting, sets 0t non-extensibleconnecting members attached to said vertebraa, each-set'ot connectingmembers comprising aplurality of members lying side by side andextending longitudinally of the belting and transversely of thesaidYver-tebrtc' the connecting members oton'e set overlapping theadjacent set of connecting members said overlapping ends beinggiven areverse bend to form loops the ends otwhich are embedded in the saidleather vertebrae and means passing through the loop portions of theoverlapping ends of the connectingn'ieur' vertebra and another set. tothe adjacent vertebra, said connecting members attending len 'thwise ofthe belting. and each set conr I p w l prising; a plurality of memberslyingside by side, means for attaching one set ot'connecting members tothe adjacent set ot connectmg'members to provide non-extensiblmlat-"orally yieldable, articulated structure, and

strips of leather attached to one face of said I structurean'd'extending longitudinally of saidstructure; I 9 Thisspecificationsigned this 4th day of December, 1923. V A

- lV'ILLIAlil M. GAVANAUGH.

